Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) Short Interest Up 24.1% in April

Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 746,400 shares, a growth of 24.1% from the March 31st total of 601,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 283,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Vera Bradley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 21st.

Institutional Trading of Vera Bradley

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Vera Bradley by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 194,830 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 68,199 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in Vera Bradley by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 78,700 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 21,900 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Vera Bradley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Vera Bradley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $83,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Vera Bradley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $473,000. 59.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vera Bradley Price Performance

NASDAQ VRA opened at $6.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s fifty day moving average is $6.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.24. Vera Bradley has a 52-week low of $4.60 and a 52-week high of $8.35.

Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 13th. The textile maker reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.04). Vera Bradley had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 1.66%. The company had revenue of $133.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.06 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vera Bradley will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vera Bradley

Vera Bradley, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells women's handbags, luggage and travel items, fashion and home accessories, and gifts. It operates through three segments: Vera Bradley Direct, Vera Bradley Indirect, and Pura Vida. The company offers bag products, such as totes, crossbodies, satchels, clutches, backpacks, baby bags, and lunch bags; accessories, including ID holders, lanyards, wallets, wristlets, eyewear, scarves, hair accessories, and various technology accessories; bracelets, rings, and necklaces under Pura Vida brand name; and travel products consisting of rolling luggage, cosmetics, and travel and packing accessories, as well as travel bags comprising duffel and weekend bags.